The Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement late Friday afternoon insisting that the new plan does not address its concerns.

"The facts remain absolutely clear: the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in our national interest. Mining the tar sands would be a disaster for our climate," said NRDC Canada Project Director Danielle Droitsch. "Piping it through the heartland would put our ranchers and farmers at risk. And sending it to the Gulf only makes our country a dirty oil gateway to overseas markets. It's not in our national interest. It's a bad idea. It needs to be denied."

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Well this is disheartening, to say the least.

Via an email alert from Politico:

A new State Department draft report makes no clear recommendation on whether the U.S. should approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but it also downplays some of the warnings from green activists who say it would pose a major threat to the Earth's climate.

Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones told reporters it's "premature" to say whether the findings of the draft report suggest an endorsement of the pipeline project. Stressing that the report is a draft, Jones said the State Department is "really looking for the public debate at this point."

Still, parts of the report seem to be a blow to environmental groups that have made defeat of the pipeline one of their top demands of President Barack Obama. But it's promising for backers of the project, who said the Canadian crude oil could fuel dreams of energy independence.

To repeat: One argument for the pipeline project is profit. However, all the money in the world is meaningless if 1) nobody is around to enjoy it, and 2) it’s spent on health care that will become increasingly necessary to treat symptoms and diseases resulting from a toxic environment.